Some fans screamed to holy hell when they saw what Capcom had done to their beloved Breath of Fire series. A postapocalyptic setting, a short and must-be-replayed story and a *gasp!* talking Ryu. Okay so it's almost a complete deviation from the norm of the series, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game. I think it's a great game. As long as you understand the system anyway.....

If the previous games had at least half a dozen dragons each, this game has one. Just one. Scream if you must, but this cragon must be the most horrifically overpowered character transformation in any game I've ever seen. Believe me when I say you can take out the final boss in 4 hits. 4 hits. I kid you not.

Of course that does not mean you can freely abuse this dragon form, as I'll explain later, considering how the frequency of usage of the dragon form really has the greatest effect on you finishing the game.

After a certain scene, you'll see a little cube on the top right corner of the screen with a perentage counter underneath it. This is your D-Counter. This is basically your survival meter as well as the limiter of how you use your dragon abilities. Basically, if this thing reaches 100%, you die. This counter increases depending on your actions, which are the following:

1. Standing Still - .01% every few seconds
2. Walking - .01% every few dozen steps
3. D-Dash - .01% in almost half the steps as walking
4. Fighting - .01% per turn of the lead character
5. Dragon Abilities - 1%-3% depending on the ability

Based on this, you can tell that you can't afford to waste any time in this game. I can easily say that the D-Counter can easily be exhausted by the unmindful player. Always be watchful of your Counter, if you want to finish the game. At one point, however, you'll need to max out your D-Counter to finish the game. You'll have to find out that battle for yourself though. =P

D-Counter management is one of the keys to finishing the game. There are really only 4 tips to keeping it low:

1. Avoid backtracking and plan you routes when you can.
2. Minimize the number of turns you take in combat.
3. Dragon forms must be used minimally.
4. Maximize your dragon abilities into just one turn of the dragon form.

You'll also notice that in the menu screen screen shows a fraction called your D-Ratio. The D-Ratio technically translates to your societal ranking, but it has deeper meanings that will be revealed during gameplay.

Realistically though, the D-Ratio has little effect on the game besides unlocking more rooms to venture into. Past that it's more of a bragging right to show people that you made 1/4 rank, and that in itself is unexplainably hard. I'll probably have more info on the D-Ratio in another FAQ.

This game is hard. Damn hard. It's highly improbable that first-time players will get very far in this game. It is for this difficulty that Capcom decided to include the Scenario Overlay System, or SOL. Basically the SOL system allows you to restart the game from the beginning or from a save point when you think you'll be unable to continue with some of you cash, party exp and items intact.

Don't think that restarting is taking the easy way out. In most cases, it's the right and most logical thing to do. You'll need to be able to know if you'll be able to continue properly because if you get game over.... well you restart from scratch. At least by using the SOL you can have some of your status back.

Now add the fact that save tokens are rare. So rare that You'll always have to think twice about saving. Hell they're even more rare than ink ribbons in Resident Evil. Proper data management is also the key. Especially if you want to use the SOL abuse tricks. ^_^

You need to use it basically when you can't continue on with your current status, whether you're out of money, healing items etc. This is kind of self explanatory since anyone who's playd an RPG can tell that they're not going to make it. However, there are some things you need to do first before you restart or restore:

. Put all items/money in the locker
2. Save up your party EXP
3. Choose SOL Restart to return to the beginning
4. Choose SOL Restore to return to the last savepoint

When you use an SOL option, all the stuff in your locker as well as your party experience will be retained. Your items can be accessed from the locker while your part exp can be used outright. I suggest using Restore if you think you've missed something or you need to repeat a certain section better. Restart should only be used in the most dire of circumstances, and ONLY IF you have a locker nearby. Always try to have a locker nearby when using SOL options.

Like I said, this game is hard. Harder than most RPG's you'll ever encounter because:

1. Money is scarce
2. No inns to restore health
3. Stores are expensive
4. Most enemies will drain your HP more than you'd want
5. You're playing against the clock (or counter)

However, there are loopholes around this difficult game. If you were to take a look at design of the SOL system, you'd see that this system was made to ease the player as well as for clear abusing of it. Using the SOL Restore in a continuous loop is the key to lots of money and party exp. You basically have to repeat certain sections of the game while finishing each battle in just one turn (use your Dragon to your hearts content). The best place to use the loop is the fights against the rangers since they give lots of party exp and zenny. It's also faster too.

The Zeno Battle Loop
1. Make a hard save at the end of Frozen Road 4F1
2. Go up and fight the series of battles against Zeno and her rangers.
3. Be sure to complete each battle with one turn of Ryu's dragon form. Abuse it but DO NOT reach 100%.
4. Pick up the sword she drops.
5. Go around the general area, wiping out any enemies you see, and break open every box you encounter.
6. Return to the Frozen Road 4F savepoint.
7. Identify all items and put ALL your things inside the locker.
8. Use SOL Restore and restore your previous save point.

This really isn't as hard as you think. It's all about finding a place where you can easily use the SOL Restore loop. This will take you a while, but will make you stronger than you'll need for the rest of the game.